Sunderland have 12 matches to save not just their season, but, potentially, an entire football club.
Relegation to League One is not a chance to press reset, to regroup and return all the stronger. That, do not forget, was supposed to happen this season.
Yet here they are, bottom of the Championship, five points from safety and in danger of becoming only the third club to suffer the ignominy of back-to-back demotions from the Premier League to League One.
Here, we take a closer look at what has gone wrong and what has to happen for things to go right…
Why can’t a season in League One be seen as the chance to rebuild?